‘It: Welcome to Derry’s Season 1 Finale’s Pennywise Twist Is Risky

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The first season of It: Welcome to Derry ends with a surprising turn that could be a gamble for the show’s future. As a prequel to the It movies from 2017 and 2019 – which were based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel – the series has been a pleasant (and scary) surprise. The show’s charming new characters, such as Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James) and Ronnie Grogan (Amanda Christine), who are part of the new Losers Club, make the HBO Max series arguably even more compelling than the films, and certainly better than the second movie.

The eighth episode of It: Welcome to Derry, titled “Winter Fire,” is incredibly atmospheric, featuring a memorable scene of a windy, snowy river. While the episode, which aired on December 14th, revealed something significant and intriguing, it may not have been the most effective direction for the show’s storyline.

The ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Finale is Taking A Creative Risk with Pennywise’s Big Reveal


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The first season finale of It: Welcome to Derry had several shocking moments, one being the discovery that Richie Tozier’s (Finn Wolfhard) mother is actually Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler). However, the most significant reveal was that Pennywise doesn’t experience time like we do. After Ronnie, Marge, and Lilly Banbridge (Clara Stack) share a bike ride filled with playful arguments, Pennywise appears by a snowy river and explains his unique relationship with time. He talks about their eventual death, then confusingly asks, “Or is it birth? I get confused. Tomorrow? Yesterday? It’s all the same to me.”

This discovery raises some interesting possibilities. Does this mean all versions of Pennywise – like Tim Curry’s in the original miniseries and Bill Skarsgård’s in the recent movies – experience time in the same way? And if the HBO Max series It: Welcome to Derry gets renewed for a second season, could time travel become part of the story?

That’s a significant gamble, and it could easily backfire. Time travel stories are notoriously difficult to get right, often contradicting themselves. Will a single change ripple through time, like in the movie The Butterfly Effect? After such a strong first season, it would be a shame if the next one became complicated and confusing. We don’t want fans spending more effort figuring out the rules of time travel than actually enjoying the story.

Both It: Welcome to Derry and Stranger Things face a similar challenge: can the heroes truly win? Will the Losers Club be able to finally destroy Pennywise, and can Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) be defeated in the final season of Stranger Things? The way time isn’t straightforward is a clever idea. It opens up exciting storytelling possibilities and makes Pennywise feel consistently threatening throughout the series. Plus, the prequel offers a chance to reveal something new about a well-known horror villain, which is really cool.

As a huge fan of Stephen King, I’m a little worried about where the new prequel, It: Welcome to Derry, is heading. It feels like introducing the idea that Pennywise can jump between timelines might create a lot of unresolved plot threads. We think the Losers finally defeated him in It Chapter Two, but this new development makes me wonder if that ending will feel complete. It leaves you with this nagging feeling that he could still be lurking somewhere, doesn’t it? I’m hoping they can stick the landing and give Pennywise a truly final defeat, but this makes it feel a lot harder to achieve.

Regardless of how fans react to these new plans, it’s obvious the show will continue to innovate and differ from the movies if it gets another season. Showrunner Andy Muschietti has mentioned wanting three seasons that explore the story of the Bradley Gang in 1935 and a plot hinted at in 1908. This means season two won’t immediately follow the events of the 1988 finale. So, it’s probably best not to dwell on the details too much and simply hope that HBO Max renews the show, and that Pennywise remains terrifying, even with the changes to the timeline.

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2025-12-16 02:09